Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Startup

The purpose of this blog, for me at least, is to be able to share information about my upcoming trip with my mother to Ecuador for the next two months, from November 15th-January 15th.

A list of locations we will visit, although not limited to these, includes the Quito area, Yanacocha Reserve, Papallacta/Guango Lodge, San Isidro/Yanayacu Biological Station, Sani Lodge, Tiputini Biodiversity Station, and the Mindo area.

Although the primary goal of the trip is birds, another major objective is to keep my mom happy!

I don't know what my internet situation will be for most of the trip, but I will try to keep this updated with bird lists, pictures, and overall notes on the trip, as often as I am able to.

Elevations will vary from a few hundred feet, in the eastern Amazonian lowlands, up to around 14,000 fasl at Papallacta Pass, temperatures from the 40s to 80s (Fahrenheit), and with climates from treeless windswept Andean tundra, or "paramo", to humid jungle full of rivers and seasonally flooded forest in the east.

I concur with Luke! I recently decided against the 100-400, so it's either that one or improve my stalking techniques!

Also I'm interested to see how the the birds change across the different habitats and regions. It was quite amazing seeing all the familiar faces of Western Sibley organize themselves into habitat-specific groups in the wild.